LOCATION AND NATURAL FEATURES.

Chase County, named after Salmon P. Chase, who was United States Senator from,
and Governor of, Ohio, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States, was organized in 1859. It was south and west of the center of
population of Kansas in 1875, and in 1880 this center had moved some distance
west of it. The northern boundary of the county is 102 miles south of the
Nebraska line; its eastern line, 96 miles from the State of Missouri; its
southern boundary, 75 miles from the Indian Territory; and its western
boundary, 285 miles from the State of Colorado. Between it and Missouri there
are four counties; there are six organized counties on the line west of it. Its
area is about 750 square miles. The Cottonwood River flows through the county
in a general northeasterly and easterly direction, emptying into the Neosho, in
Lyon County. The valley of this river ranges from one to three miles in width;
its soil is chiefly a dark friable loam, varying from five to twenty-five feet
deep, the accumulation of the decayed vegetation of ages. The river has high
steep banks, and it has a fall of from five to eight feet in every half a dozen
miles, thus making a series of good water-powers.

The limits of the river valley are most clearly defined by lines of bluffs or
low and rounded sloping hills on either side, out of which crop ledges of
magnesian limestone. The land is very rolling above the line of bluffs, and in
many places it is broken by the ledges of stone that come out to the surface.
Lying between the hills are swells of greater or less dimensions, that possess
the elements of great fertility. The Cottonwood has numerous tributaries; the
principal streams flowing into it from the north being French, Silver, Middle,
Diamond, Fox, Peyton and Buckeye, the general course of which is southeast;
from the south are Jacobs, Bloody, South Fork Rock, Spring, Corn Branch, Coon
and Cedar, whose general course is north. The hear-waters of the Verdigris are
in the southeastern part of the county; the stream runs southeasterly into Lyon
and Greenwood and empties into the Neosho. In the northeast part of the county
is Canola Creek; it passes through the southeast corner of Marion and empties
into the Neosho, in the southwest corner of Lyon County. There are branches of
all these tributaries fed by abounding springs of living water, and this
network of running waters, great and small, give to this county the justly
earned reputation of being one of the finest watered portions of the State of
Kansas. These branches of the Cottonwood possess rich, fertile valleys, varying
from half a mile to a mile in width. The valleys are mostly on the west and
north side of the streams; on the south and east the land usually rises
abruptly to a summit, then gradually descends southwardly and eastwardly to the
adjacent valley and stream. About 15 per cent of the county is valley land; 50
per cent, good tillable, undulating prairie, and 35 per cent of a bluffy
character. Good well water can be obtained at a depth of about twenty-five feet.

The streams are well skirted with timber, but the average width of the belt is
less than one half a mile; the forest land of the county is estimated at 5 per
cent. Cottonwood, hackberry, sycamore, hickory, walnut, and burr oak are the
prevailing kinds of timber.

The soil is generally quite strongly impregnated with lime; the subsoil is of a
clayish cast, but in the western part of the county, there is a smaller
percentage of lime in the soil, and the subsoil is more porous. Building stone
exists in great quantities, and it is of a most excellent quality. The west of
the State house is built of it. It is seen in the public and private buildings
at Leavenworth, Kansas City and in many of the principal towns along the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and its branches. Good brick clay is found
in the valley of the Cottonwood. The grasses growing from this soil are
superior in their qualities for fattening stock, and the sheltered sides of the
bluffs, the nooks at the head of the valleys, with the abounding timber, with
artificial shelters, make this a peculiarly good county for raising and
fattening of cattle.

There is comparatively no stagnant water in the county, nor swampy lands, and
with the high altitude of the country, there is a great freedom from malaria.
The winters are usually short, the spring opens early, and the autumn days are
balmy, breathing an atmosphere of great purity with healing in its wings.

TOWNSHIP HISTORY.

March 24, 1860, Toledo and Diamond Creek townships were created, and the 750
square miles of Chase county are comprised in five municipal townships.
Diamond Creek is in the northwest part of the county, Falls, in the north
central; Toledo, in the northeast and eastern; Bazaar, in the southeast and
south central; Cottonwood, in the southwestern. The two cities in the county
are in Falls Township, Cottonwood Falls and Strong City. The County
Commissioners' districts are as follows: First district, Toledo and Bazaar;
Second, Falls; Third, Cottonwood and Diamond Creek.

Toledo.-- The area of this township is 188 square miles. Safford and
Elinor, stations on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, are its
principal villages. Safford is two miles from the Lyon County line, and Elinor
is three miles west of Safford. J. F. Gill is the station agent and L. P.
Ravenscroft is the physician at Safford. It is located on the northeast
quarter of Section 15, Township 19, Range 9. It contained 537,100 acres
January 5, 1875. In June, 1856, Nathan Cory, Daniel Holsinger and Gabriel
Jacobs settled in the township. Mr. Pine and Jane Wentworth of this township
were married in 1857. George Holsinger was born in this township in 1857. O.
Thompson started the first general store at Toledo. It was in 1859. John
Buchanan was the first postmaster. The office was established in 1858.

In 1863, the Friends erected a house of worship, on the southwest corner of
the southeast quarter of Section 2, Township 19, Range 9. Their church was
organized in 1859. Schools were kept in private houses in this township; its
first schoolhouse was built in 1864, school district No. 9. The town site of
Toledo was abandoned January 2, 1865. Here is a general store, and a
blacksmith shop and a physician.

Bazaar.-- This township has an area of 178 square miles. Some families
from Illinois settled here in 1857, among whom were Dr. M. R. Leonard, J. Lane
and Barnard McCabe. The wife of Dr. Leonard died in 1859, and John Sharp of
this township died in 1860. The first postmaster of Bazaar, in 1860, was George
Leonard. Streckle & Co. started a general store in 1870. Its first school
building was built of logs. It was erected in district No. 7, in 1860. The
Methodists erected their first church building in 1864. Bazaar, Berley, Morgan
and Thurman are country post-offices; Matfield Green has two general stores, a
blacksmith shop, and a good water flouring-mill. Henry Brandley from this
township, has been Representative, Senator, and Secretary of the State Senate.

Cottonwood.-- This township contains 180 square miles. Homestead and
Wonsevu are country post-offices, located in the limits. Cedar Point is
situated one half mile south of Cedar Grove Station on the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railroad, which is the westernmost one in the county. At the Point
there are two general stores, a blacksmith shop, and here Drinkwater &
Schriver have one of the best water grist-mills in the county. The proprietors
of Cedar Point are Orlo H. Drinkwater, Peter Schriver, A. B. Emerson, Henry
Weaver, Philip Frank, Richard O'Neil, and Sumner L. Roberts. The location is
on the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 6, Township 21,
Range 6, and the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 1,
Township 21, Range 5.

J. W. Byrom is the station agent at Cedar Grove, and J. W. Cope is the agent
at Crawfordsville, which is six miles east of Cedar Grove. Joseph L. Crawford
laid out this place, February 25, 1882, on the northwest quarter of Section
23, Township 20, Range 6. This place has two stores, and it has absorbed what
has been known as "Hunt's." M. Coyne settled in this township in 1857; the
first birth here was December 25, 1857, Lafayette Hawkins. Mr. Fratchet opened
a grocery store in 1859. O. H. Drinkwater was postmaster at Cedar Point in
1862; school district No. 3 was formed here in 1863, and the Methodist
Episcopal Church, a house of worship in 1876.

Diamond Creek embraces Townships 18 and 19, of Ranges 6 and 7. Hymer,
Woodhull, and Elk are country post-offices; at Elk is a blacksmith shop.
Elmdale is located on a part of Section 27, Township 19, Range 7. Stephen M.
Wood is President of the Town Company. He has been a Representative and
Senator, and is now the President of the Board of Regents, of the State
Agricultural College. A. Seaton is the station agent, and the hamlet is a
neat little town containing a hotel, a drug store, a hardware store, three
general stores, two blacksmith shops, a saw and grist-mill, a loan agent, a
nice passenger depot, post-office, church and school house. The town is about
four miles due west of Cottonwood Falls. The main street running east and west
has a thrifty, beautiful appearance. In 1854, Seth Hayes, an Indian trader at
Council Grove, located a stock ranch on the Cottonwood, near the mouth of
Diamond Spring Creek. School district No. 1, was formed in this township in
1865; Samuel Beverlin, Probate Judge of the county, was postmaster at Middle
Creek, now Elmdale, in 1866; William Jeffrey & Son opened a general store in
1872, at Elmdale.

Falls contains an area of 110 square miles. The towns are Cottonwood
Falls and Strong, which are a little over one mile apart, and are the
objective points of the county. James Fisher, a single man from Columbiana
County, Ohio, was the first settler in the county. He located on the southwest
quarter of Section 26, Township 19, Range 8, in 1855, and in 1873 was robbed
and murdered at his own house, by Martin Goss. For the commission of this
crime, Goss had a sentence to the penitentiary for twenty-one years. Susan
Borders, the daughter of Christopher Borders, was born near Cottonwood Falls,
in 1858. She was the first child born in the county. The family soon moved to
Missouri. In December, 1858, Sidney A. Breese settled in what became
Cottonwood Falls; the oldest living settler. He was one of the county
organizers, the first Assessor, Register of Deeds, and County Attorney of the
county. He has been Clerk of the District Court, and he entered upon the
duties of the office of County Clerk in January, 1870, and his seventh term
closes in January, 1884. J. S. Doolittle has been County Commissioner, Clerk
of the District Court, County Treasurer and Representative. J. B. Smith has
been County Treasurer, Commissioner, Assessor and Probate Judge. A. P. Gandy
has been County Treasurer, County Clerk and Register of Deeds. A. S. Williams
has been Commissioner and Sheriff. W. S. Romigh has been County Attorney,
Surveyor and County Clerk. A. S. Howard has been Superintendent of Public
Instruction, District Attorney, County Clerk, Probate Judge and County
Treasurer. J. S. Shipman has been Clerk of the District Court, County
Superintendent and County Treasurer. E. A. Alford has been County Commissioner
and County Treasurer. D. F. Drinkwater has been Assessor and Clerk of the
District Court. O. H. Drinkwater has been Commissioner and Representative. F.
B. Hunt has been County Attorney and Superintendent. H. E. Snyder has been
Assessor and County Commissioner. M. R. Leonard has been Clerk of the District
Court, Representative and Senator. H. L. Hunt has been Commissioner and
Senator. C. C. Whitson has been twelve years Probate Judge; Miss Mary E.
Hunt, six years Superintendent of Public Instruction; Samuel Buchanan, four
years County Treasurer. S. N. Wood has been Commissioner, Superintendent of
Public Instruction, County Attorney, District Judge, Representative and
Senator. Among the earliest settlers in Falls Township were James Fisher,
Milton Ford and A. P. Wentworth, who came in 1857. C. S. Hills was the
postmaster at Cottonwood Falls, in 1858; L. D. Hinckley opened a grocery store
here in 1859; school district No. 6 was organized here in 1862; the
Congregational Church in 1870; the Methodist Episcopal, in 1871. The mention
made of county officers in connection with the history of this township, has
been because of their necessary residence therein. As a matter of fact, since
1872, there has not been a county warrant, township order or bond of any kind
that was not paid at maturity.

The receipts from the magnificent stone quarries of Falls Township are rapidly
increasing from year to year. There is no county in Kansas where the wealth per
capita is greater than in Chase County. J. S. Shipman, the proprietor of the
Osage mill, which is situated on the Cottonwood, near Elmsdale, who
manufactures the "Wife's Choice," and "Guilt Edge," brands of flour, and
entered upon his second term as County Treasurer in October, 1882, has twenty
two persons upon his Treasurer's bond, among whom are a dozen names good for
over $1,000,000. Chase County has a good climate, a good soil, a good range,
excellent public buildings, and an active, cultured and progressive people.

WAR RECORD.

Probably no county in the United States of America could show that 27 per cent
of its voting population enlisted in 1861, except this one of Chase. Here were
seventy volunteers out of a body of 262 voters. In Company 1, of the second
Kansas Infantry, Samuel N. Wood was mustered in a Captain June 20, 1861, and
was afterwards transferred to Fremont's Battalion. In "New Company B," of the
Ninth Kansas, Henry Brandley was mustered out as Captain, July 17, 1865, at
Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas. Charles S. Hills was mustered in as Captain of
Company D, of the Tenth Kansas, May 11, 1862, assigned to Company A, and made
Lieutenant Colonel, March, 1, 1865. Of the Kansas State Militia, S. N. Wood was
commissioned Brigadier-General February 29, 1864; William S. Smith, of
Cottonwood Falls, was commissioned Colonel of the Eighth Regiment, July 4,
1864; A. S. Howard, Captain of Company B, January 18, 1864; H. E. Snyder, First
Lieutenant, same date; H. L. Hunt, Second Lieutenant, September 16, 1863. In
Company F, H. H. Doolittle was commissioned Captain November 11, 1863; George
W. Williams, March 17, 1863; M. R. Leonard, November 25, 1863; Asa Taylor,
Second Lieutenant, November 11, 1863.